How Honda F1 gains gave Williams its first turbo success and a Silverstone record

At the turn of the 1980s, few would have argued against Williams being the most technically accomplished team in Formula 1. With the FW07 and its derivative specs, Patrick Head and Frank Dernie had created the ground-effect benchmark, hitting the ideal compromise between maximal underbody aerodynamics and ideal chassis stiffness.

Alan Jones might have won the drivers’ championship in 1979 had the car been definitively ready at the start of that season, and he showed everyone else the way in 1980; the following year team-mate Carlos Reutemann would have been champ but for his inexplicable flunk in the season finale. Tenacity and consistency, and the sad absence of Gilles Villeneuve and Didier Pironi, played a part in Keke Rosberg’s 1982 title but so too did the FW08, one of the best non-turbo cars of that season.

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The trajectory from that against-the-odds victory was generally downhill, though. Already having the best non-turbo car was barely enough; by 1983 Williams was desperate to secure a blown engine. And, even once the deal with Honda was done, the team was becoming aware that its chassis and aerodynamic performance had slipped behind the state of the art.

The 1984 season was all about McLaren and John Barnard’s beautifully integrated composite-chassis MP4/2 and TAG-Porsche turbo, very much the forerunner of the 21st century F1 cars shaped by aerodynamicists and engine builders working hand-in-hand. In contrast, the aluminium honeycomb Williams FW09 was boxy, rather inelegant and aerodynamically sub-optimal, largely as a consequence of the engine and ancillaries arriving from Japan as a technical fait accompli, with no indication of essential parameters such as cooling requirements.

It’s difficult to separate the vicious eccentricities of the FW09 from those of Honda’s early V6 turbo; designer Dernie has said the root of the handling issues that plagued Rosberg and Jacques Laffite through 1984 were mainly a factor of the team adopting unusual set-ups to ameliorate the effects of the engine’s binary delivery. The RA164E’s claimed 750 horses were said to arrive in one stampeding contingent between 10,300 and 11,400rpm – with little indication of their presence until that point.

The first Williams-Honda collaboration in 1984 with the FW09 wasn't a great success, although Rosberg did win in Dallas

Photo by: Motorsport Images

Both Williams and Honda were going through a learning process of how to engineer a turbocharged car – and both parties recognised they had to scale up their efforts. Williams already built composite components such as wings in-house, so constructing a complete car using these materials rather than aluminium was a natural step. This, and a season of learning about the V6’s heat rejection characteristics would facilitate a less boxy shape for the FW10. Over the winter of 1984 into ’85 Honda added massive resources to what had started out as a low-key exercise, tripling the budget and staff.

Another contributor to the effort was Laffite’s replacement, Nigel Mansell, with two seasons of experience at Lotus with Renault’s V6 turbo. Among his first observations was that the turbo lag caused by inertia in the comparatively large IHI turbines was dire compared with Renault’s – smaller ones running higher boost pressures would be the way forward.

From inception, Honda’s 80-degree V6 RA turbos were based on a short-stroke version of its two-litre Formula 2 engine, itself conceived around an oversquare piston layout. Programme manager Nobuhiko Kawamoto’s theory had been that if the class-leading BMW four-pot’s bore size could be replicated across six cylinders, Honda could quickly find half as much power again.

In the month’s gap before the Canadian GP the RA165E was finally ready. Its revised cylinder configuration and far higher compression ratio allowed for smaller turbos, and more optimal packaging to the forthcoming B-spec FW10

The bore/stroke ratio of 90mm by 39mm
enabled Honda to achieve a high rev ceiling relatively quickly but, as a consequence, torque was poor – exacerbating the feeling of peakiness when harnessed to a pair of turbochargers. Peak power was also down on rivals but the chief vice was terrible reliability; flexing blocks contributed to several DNFs but generally heat build-up in those large bores would be the cause, sending the pistons into (literal) meltdown.

In typical Honda fashion, the resource expansion came with staff rotation as Kawamoto was handed a more senior job within the company, bringing in Yoshitoshi Sakurai to head the project with a new chief designer, Katsumi Ichida. Despite instructions to develop based on existing architecture, Ichida set to work on an entirely new design with a stiffer block and a new bore/stroke ratio of 82mm by 47.2mm. Until the new concept was ready for the scrutiny of Ichida’s seniors, the team focused on mitigating the RA164E’s piston issues and working with IHI to create lighter, freer-spinning turbo impellers.

So the RA164E lived into the 1985 season in the new composite-tub FW10. Unlike McLaren’s chassis, the monocoque wasn’t laid up as one piece but as an inverted ‘U’ shape, which was then bonded onto the floor section. Externally it followed similar principles to the FW09 though the engine cover and sidepods were noticeably slimmer and the nose lower and narrower. It also had to do without the lateral extensions to the rear wing, which had now been outlawed.

The season got under way later than originally planned after the cancellation of the second Dallas GP. Thus the spectacle of Dallas actor Larry Hagman waving the field off went unrepeated and instead the season began on 7 April at Jacarepagua on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro. Rosberg qualified second while Mansell, racing for the first time with the number five that would become his signature, started fifth, but engine trouble eliminated both early on.

The FW10 featured engine upgrades under the skin that helped it become a regular contender

Photo by: James Mann

Mansell was fifth in Portugal, two laps down, while Rosberg spun off as Ayrton Senna claimed his first victory for Lotus in a race marred by dreadful weather. In San Marino, Mansell was classified fifth despite being one of the six ‘finishers’ to run out of fuel. Brake failure had long since eliminated Rosberg.

Both drivers finished outside the points in Monaco. In the month’s gap before the Canadian GP, the RA165E was finally ready. Its revised cylinder configuration and far higher compression ratio allowed for smaller turbos, and more optimal packaging to the forthcoming B-spec FW10 (which would feature pullrod rather than pushrod rear suspension). Friendlier to drive, it also offered 200bhp more muscle.

Rosberg and Mansell finished fourth and sixth in Montreal, on the same lap as Ferrari’s victorious Michele Alboreto. Better was to come at the bumpy Detroit street circuit. In the neat-handling Lotus 97T, Senna was untouchable in qualifying but his gamble to run the race without a pitstop failed when the track surface began to break up. Mansell had qualified second on the softer Goodyear ‘B’ compound while Rosberg, starting fifth, decided to use them in the race – and overtook Mansell early on, then kept Senna honest until the Brazilian capitulated with a pitstop.

As other cars succumbed to brake problems and the crumbling track, or slid around on the harder ‘A’ tyres, Rosberg opened a lead he would not surrender even when soaring coolant temperatures forced him to pit for detritus to be removed from one sidepod. Both Mansell and Alain Prost crashed out at Turn 2, where the track surface was at its worst, and Nigel hit the wall hard enough to injure his hand; Keke finished over a minute ahead of championship leader Alboreto.

Victory on Ford’s home turf, on a weekend the Blue Oval announced a turbo engine project of its own (which would achieve little) made the result all the sweeter for Honda. And at the following round the V6 would fully unwind on a track with a famously long straight: Paul Ricard. Rosberg qualified on pole but Mansell – hand still strapped up after his Detroit crash – sat out the race with concussion after a deflating tyre sent him into the barrier at Signes. On race day, Rosberg struggled for grip and balance and lost out to Nelson Piquet’s Brabham.

It was at Silverstone that Rosberg and Honda would enter F1’s record books with a typically bravura performance in qualifying from the abnormally brave Finn. Promoters and media had eagerly fuelled speculation that a lap averaging over the magic 160mph mark might be in the offing – and that this might be the last chance to see it. Car performance curbs were already being mooted (a cap on boost pressure would begin in 1987) and layout changes at this, F1’s fastest overall circuit since Monza sprouted chicanes, were also in prospect.

Rosberg adopted an IndyCar-style asymmetric set-up to optimise speed through the predominant right-handers. He was fastest on a rain-afflicted Friday but it was on Saturday that he found the next level. Despite a slide at the chicane – thanks to a deflating left-front – he broke the 160mph average with a 1m05.967s on his first flying lap. A heavy shower then put paid to the notion of anyone, even Rosberg himself, eclipsing his performance.

Rosberg beat the 160mph average at Silverstone, setting a record that wouldn't be broken for another 17 years

Photo by: Motorsport Images

Wrong. On a day that lurched between sunshine and rain – the clouds have always whipped over this windy old airfield – the track briefly dried. Out Keke went, bringing the crowd to its feet as spots of rain began to fall again – but nothing could stand in the way of Rosberg and his sizzling-hot tyres as he wrestled the twitching, sparking FW10 around in 1m05.591s. 160.94mph: a record that would stand until Juan Pablo Montoya (also in a Williams) averaged 161.45mph at Monza in 2002.

“It was probably one of the few occasions when I felt I had lost my self-control,” said Rosberg. “I should have stayed in the garage and said: ‘I’ve got pole, thank you very much.’ But sheer enjoyment overtook professionalism…”

Williams was now back in the game. If that Detroit win had owed much to Rosberg’s tenacity, this was a display of bravery and commitment in a car that now had the pace to challenge the frontrunners. Unfortunately Sunday demonstrated that the team’s journey back to championship dominance was incomplete: McLaren’s MP4/2B proved peerlessly quick and stable through Silverstone’s fast sweepers and Prost won by a lap. Both Williams cars failed to finish as clutch failure eliminated Mansell and a broken exhaust halted Rosberg.

The FW10B, with pullrod rear suspension at the heart of a tidier MP4/2B-like ‘Coke bottle’ rear-end shape, was ready for round 14 of 16, the European GP at Brands Hatch

The next step would be to extend the FW10’s prodigious one-lap pace over a grand prix distance. DNFs for Rosberg in three of the next four rounds indicated there was work to be done on reliability, too, though the responsible party for these failures wasn’t always the occupant of the engine bay.

As Prost drew level with Alboreto at the head of the title race, the role of sophistication and nuance over brute force was becoming clear: the Lotus 97T was nimble but let down by its Renault V6 turbo’s thirst and fragility; Ferrari’s 156/85 was quick but draggier and less endowed with downforce than McLaren’s MP4/2B, especially at the rear. This, and the TAG-Porsche V6’s more sophisticated engine management system, which prioritised efficiency over top-end power, made the MP4/2B gentler on its tyres and more predictable on fuel usage.

The FW10B, with pullrod rear suspension at the heart of a tidier MP4/2B-like ‘Coke bottle’ rear-end shape, was ready for round 14 of 16, the European GP at Brands Hatch. Renault and BMW remained F1’s quali-boost kings so it was no surprise to see the Lotus and Brabham of Brazilian rivals Senna and Piquet up front by a margin of almost a second. Behind them, Mansell and Rosberg occupied the second row with Philippe Streiff and Prost on the row behind.

Former championship leader Alboreto was now almost irrelevant, qualifying 15th. Prost contrived to make heavy weather of getting the title over the line, taking to the grass on the opening lap and falling outside the top 10, while Mansell made a quick start and challenged Senna for the lead – before overcooking it at Druids, allowing Piquet and Rosberg ahead.

Mansell's first F1 win arrived in memorable fashion at Brands Hatch in the European GP

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Rosberg made short work of Piquet but, as he went to pass Senna on lap seven, he received a sharp chop across the bows at Surtees, sending him spinning into Piquet’s path. Rosberg’s car survived the impact with just a puncture; in modern F1 an incident such as this would have doubtless resulted in Senna being sanctioned by the stewards. Instead, Senna carried on in the lead, now with Mansell just a few car lengths behind – until, two laps later, the leading duo encountered Rosberg leaving the pits.

Clinically and cynically, Rosberg baulked the Lotus through Paddock Hill Bend, around Druids, then again at Graham Hill Bend, enabling Mansell to sail up the inside at Surtees. Further round the lap, Rosberg left the door open for his team-mate at Westfield and then slammed it in Senna’s face (a piece of driving etiquette that in modern times would have resulted in him joining the Brazilian on the naughty step).

Outrageous, but it enabled Mansell to build a gap for his first grand prix win, by 21.396s from the no-doubt frustrated Senna. Two weeks later Mansell qualified on pole and won at Kyalami in a South African GP overshadowed by rows over the country’s policy of apartheid; Ligier and Renault boycotted the event, which would not return to the calendar until 1992.

As Kyalami headed towards the off-ramp, the final round took place in a new venue: Australia, and a hybrid circuit in Adelaide that combined the city’s streets with a purpose-built section inside the Victoria Park racecourse. It was a pointer to F1’s immediate future as Mansell and Rosberg qualified second and third and Rosberg ran out the victor by 43.1s.

This was to be Rosberg’s final GP win as he headed for McLaren in 1986, a fallow season for him as Barnard refused to row back on the MP4/2’s fundamental understeer balance. Mansell would be joined by Piquet, just as Williams stepped up a gear with the successor to the FW10, a car capable of devastating speed over both one lap and a race distance.

Race record

Starts: 32     
Wins: 4     
Poles: 3       
Fastest laps: 4      
Other podiums: 4     
Championship points: 71

Specification

Chassis: Carbon fibre monocoque    
Suspension: Double wishbones with pushrod-actuated springs/dampers (pullrod rear on FW10B)
Engine: Turbocharged Honda RA164E/RA165E 80-degree V6   
Engine capacity: 1494cc       
Power: 750bhp @ 12,000rpm / 950bhp @ 11,500rpm            
Gearbox: Six-speed Williams/Hewland manual 
Brakes: Steel discs front and rear       
Tyres: Goodyear 
Weight: 545kg      
Notable drivers: Keke Rosberg, Nigel Mansell

Williams FW10 didn't win a title, but was an important proof of concept for Honda

Photo by: James Mann